Carrying registration card in car glove box leaves drivers vulnerable

Recently I was stopped by an Oregon State Police officer, who did not cite me but gave me warnings for a driving violation and for not carrying a registration card for my vehicle, which is a violation of Oregon Revised Statutes 803.505.

The applicable paragraph of ORS 803.505 says: "(1) The owner of a vehicle that is registered in this state commits the offense of failure to carry a registration card if the owner does not place and keep the card in or on the vehicle in a manner that makes it readily available for police inspection upon request."

I was not carrying this document because I deem it unsafe to do so. If someone breaks into a car and finds the registration card, they will now have the owner's home address, which they can use to victimize the owner further, such as by burglary oridentity theft.

This statute should be repealed in the interest of public safety. Besides, police now have on-board computers in their vehicles, which they can presumably use to access, through linkage to DMV files, complete registration information simply by entering the license-plate number. This should not be difficult to do.

I would urge our legislators to repeal this unnecessary and potentially harmful law.